President Biden is not ready to punish a close U.S. ally for starving millions
On Saturday, the Biden administration recognized the Armenian Genocide, in a move that earned the White House much praise. A few days beforehand, however, the administration quietly confirmed that the U.S. is enabling ongoing genocidal acts in Yemen, with barely anyone batting an eyelash.
The concession came on April 21 when Tim Lenderking, President Biden's Special Envoy for Yemen, testified before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee. The diplomat shrugged when pressed by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) about the possibility of the U.S. withdrawing support from its close ally, Saudi Arabia, for refusing to lift a blockade of Yemeni ports.
“If the US has been trying to get the Saudis to lift the blockade since May of last year, and they still haven't done so, what makes you think they are going to do so?” Lieu asked. “Have we conveyed that they're gonna get any consequences if they're just not gonna lift the blockade?”
“I cannot articulate what those consequences will be at this particular juncture,” Lenderking replied. According to the Friends Committee on National Legislation, the blockade is causing 16 million Yemenis to suffer from malnutrition (about half the country's population), and it could kill 400,000 children if no urgent relief arrives. This is mass suffering consistent with the internationally-recognized definition of genocide.1 More than 131,000 Yemenis have already died from the indirect causes of war since 2015, when the Saudi-led coalition started its military campaign against Yemen.
A charitable interpretation of Lenderking's response to Lieu might note that it doesn't foreclose on the possibility of punishment plans existing and remaining classified. A more realistic hypothesis is that Lenderking couldn't articulate those consequences because they don't exist. The week before Lenderking’s testimony, the Biden administration denied that there even was a Saudi blockade, claiming that restrictions were being imposed by Yemen’s government-in-exile—an entity based in Saudi Arabia, widely seen by Yemenis as a tool of the Saudi monarchy.
Another reason it's unlikely that the U.S. has plans to stop enabling mass starvation: Lenderking qualified tepid criticism of the Saudi blockade by claiming that the Houthis, the Saudis' adversaries, are also restricting the movement of goods, and that Saudi forces are generously allowing food to enter Yemen, just not fuel; as if goods dropped at Yemeni ports will just magically find their way to the homes of Yemenis; as if food in Yemen can somehow keep itself refrigerated and cook itself. Lenderking was also critical of the Houthis for continuing offensive operations without bothering to mention that the Houthis' prerequisite for a truce is an end to the Saudi blockade.
Another reason to not go the charitable-interpretation route: Lenderking couldn't publicly confirm that the Biden administration is living up to its own promises on reining in Saudi atrocities—namely, President Biden's vow from February to stop aiding the Saudi coalition's offensive actions in Yemen.
“I can't speak to that point specifically,” the envoy replied, when asked by Lieu about the U.S. role in ongoing offensive operations. “I'm not totally in that information loop, Congressman, so I can't really speak to that,” Lenderking said moments later, when pressed again by Lieu.
The subject came up again just minutes later when Lieu's colleague, Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), pushed for information about U.S. technical support for offensive Saudi operations. Again, Lenderking claimed ignorance.
“Does our suspension of support for offensive operations include support for the sustainment of the Saudi air force?” Malinowski asked. The lawmaker referred to the fact that the Biden administration has suspended the sale of weapons used by fixed-wing aircraft to the Saudis, and asked if the U.S. has also ceased “logistical support: spare parts, and maintenance.” Lenderking replied by not addressing the query, saying that he was given “a specific focus” on diplomatic issues.
The answer didn't sit well with Malinowski. “As the envoy, you've got to know whether [the Department of Defense] is providing the support that is absolutely necessary for the Saudi air force to be able to continue operations,” he said, referencing airstrikes by Saudi planes on Yemeni ports that took place last month.
“I would have to defer to DOD for the details of the kind of issues that I think you're raising,” Lenderking replied. Malinowski snapped back: “I would strongly urge you not to defer to DOD. You're supposed to be leading the diplomatic effort.”
On Tuesday, the public got its answer, through a report from Vox. Unsurprisingly, technical support to the Saudi air force is continuing unabated:
Multiple US defense officials and experts acknowledged that, through a US government process, the Saudi government pays commercial contractors to maintain and service their aircraft, and those contractors keep Saudi warplanes in the air. What the Saudis do with those fighter jets, however, is up to them.
The US could cancel those contracts at any time, thus effectively grounding the Saudi Air Force, but doing so would risk losing Riyadh as a key regional partner.
In other words, it's unlikely that the Biden administration will pressure the Saudis to let Yemenis feed themselves anytime soon. Lenderking, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and President Biden himself are, therefore, all complicit in genocidal acts. They show no sign of discomfort with this grim reality, and no amount of recognizing past genocides can absolve them of their culpability.
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“[T]he crime of genocide is characterised by the specific intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group by killing its members or by other means: causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; or forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.” The International Criminal Court (emphasis added).